


To keep us together

by MyLadyDay



Series: From dust [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace doesn't handle things well, Alternate Universe, Elementalist Ace, Engineer Vista, Established Relationship, Guardian Thatch, Guild Wars 2 fusion, Guilt, Hiding things, M/M, Plans For The Future, Prequel, Regret, Set 20 years before the main story, They're all around 19-20 years old, They're young and stupid, Thief Izou, Warrior Jozu, Warrior Marco, hints of a breakup, of sorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26450566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyLadyDay/pseuds/MyLadyDay
Summary: Ace had heard the rants and complaints about the state of their armor and their weapons countless times from Marco, and he’d adapted the frustration as his own (nearly so, really). But still they both knew too many recruits left within their first year, so the Seraph and the royal treasury weren’t in the habit of investing into armor that fit unless there was a war looming over them. Any more than usual, at any rate, so Marco did his best to let it go most of the time.Wherein they're still young and optimistic, and the sky's their limit. Set roughly 20 years before the main storyline.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco & Portgas D. Ace, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace
Series: From dust [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922767
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	To keep us together

**Author's Note:**

> This AU is loosely based on Guild Wars 2 in the sense that I'm using the basics of that world and the names for abilities and professions, while making a lot of stuff up to build the story. You don't need to know the game to understand this AU (tho the game is free to play and I highly recommend it cause it's fun) as I've attempted to explain everything as the story goes. I'm only including a short explanation in the end notes about what the boys are and what the organizations they're talking about mean so there's no confusion, but essentially only their names really matter for context.

The streets of Divinity’s Reach were always lively in the evenings, the city lit up with lanterns and colorful lights in preparation for the Wintersday festival that was just around the corner. It made everything seem warmer despite the frost and snow crunching underfoot. It was almost enough to make him walk slower, to savor the atmosphere of the capitol while he still could, but Ace knew he was already running late. It wasn't the first time, but it felt final this time and Ace didn't want that feeling to cling to him during the evening.

He had no idea who, but one of them picked some shady tavern in the Western Commons this time and Ace really had no right to be this late as the only one that actually lived in the city. Thatch would not let that go, he could already hear it, and just the thought of it made something clench in his chest.

It ached suspiciously close to where he kept the invitation from the Priory in his breast pocket, but he tried not to think about it too much just yet.

He'd thought about it far too much already, going through options and what-ifs and the (mostly) bleak predictions for the future. Physically shaking his head to rid himself of these thoughts before he actually met the others, Ace continued his hurried walk through the streets. He was surrounded by music and joy, twinkling lanterns and the holiday cheer, and somehow it all felt melancholic. 

I'm going to miss this, the thought flickered through his mind before he could tamper it down and tell himself he hadn't made a decision yet. 

He truly hadn't made a decision, and yet it felt like he was already gone, but the sight of the tavern sign swinging lightly in the evening wind banished the thought just as quickly as it had appeared. At least for the moment, he knew. 

“You’re late, you asshole,” Thatch called from their table in the corner as soon as Ace entered the tavern. 

It was just as shady looking as he thought, and with a name like The Busted Flagon, he really didn’t expect anything else.

Everyone was already there, settled around a table with tankards between them, and what looked like a half abandoned game of cards scattered between their drinks. The tavern was mostly empty, save for their group and a couple of patrons sitting by the bar, but Ace doubted it would stay that way for long.

“How are you always the one that’s late?” Vista asked, just as loudly, but he was grinning behind his pathetic excuse for a mustache and clearly just egging Thatch on as usual. “You live right here.”

“I live over in Salma District, on the other side of the city,” Ace said with a roll of his eyes as soon as he was close enough to speak without having to shout. Salma may have been one of the city’s districts, but it wasn’t that close. At least he kept making that argument, as if the garrison they all came from wasn't outside the walls and a short walk from the gates as well.

It was an old argument, something that was almost an integral part of their weekly drinking sessions ever since they were split up after basic training. Ace hadn’t thought he’d miss it, and yet the ache only deepened when Thatch pointed over to Vista and nodded in agreement.

“We walked all the way from the garrison, Ace,” he said accusingly. “The garrison outside the city walls. Walked ten miles in the snow just to be here right now.”

Izou was laughing behind his drink like he usually did when Thatch did his routine, and Jozu was already done with them, attention fully on the cards on the table. And Marco. Marco was just grinning from his seat, looking at Ace like it’d been an eternity since the last time they’d seen each other, and it was enough to warm Ace from the inside. 

“Right, Marco?” Thatch asked, always bringing Marco into it as well, sounding sure this was where he'd find support.

“Ten miles,” Marco said, but he was still grinning so brightly, eyes never straying from Ace. “So much snow too.”

Ace wanted to reach out and touch him, just to make sure he was still there, as if Marco was the one with one foot out the door. But he hadn't decided yet, he hadn't.

“You’re fucking useless,” Thatch told him, looking betrayed once again and even more so when Izou snorted very loudly, but his facade was cracking already. He wasn’t one to pretend for very long.

Marco hummed in reply, but he mostly ignored Thatch as he got up from his chair so Ace could sit against the wall. He pulled up a chair for himself as well, sitting next to Ace and effectively hiding him from the rest of the room. Vista shuffled his chair a bit too, without even looking at Ace. There was no predicting he’d miss this too.

“The usual?” Izou asked, already getting up and setting off to the bar, barely waiting for Ace to nod.

“So,” Thatch started again, attention back on Ace. “Why were you late this time?” he asked, propping an elbow on the table and settling his chin into the palm of his hand, ready for the story.

“Elements training was longer than expected,” Ace said with a shrug, eager for something else to think about. “Mostly because we all suck with the earth.”

Thatch gasped, loud and entirely faux shocked. He should have pursued a career as an actor, should the training fall through.

“The elementalist prodigy, bad at controlling an element?” he asked dramatically. “How could this be?”

Marco took one look at him and leaned back in his chair only slightly, giving Ace full line of sight of the entire table. Thatch’s drink was conveniently placed just next to his arm, so with a focused thought and a flick of his wrist, Ace made the ale ripple and splash straight into Thatch’s face. The foam was clinging very dramatically to the three patches of hair he liked to call a beard.

“Aw fuck,” Thatch said with a lot of feeling, wiping the ale from his face with a bit of a glare. “Alright, I deserved that one.”

“Definitely,” Izou chimed in just as he returned to the table, Vista nodding along in agreement. They always agreed with the karma Ace loved inflicting upon them.

“I’d have set you on fire by now,” Jozu added helpfully, without even looking away from his cards, never mind that no one else was actually playing anymore.

“And you,” he said, finally looking away from the cards to fix Izou down with a glare. “Give those coin purses back. Pretty sure the bartender noticed you.”

Izou glared at him for a moment, while the rest of them looked between the two. This was something they never got in the middle of, not when Jozu was the one to scold them. He had a tone that sounded like the one his childhood nanny used to use when he'd miss out on his lessons because he found something interesting in the dirt, and it never failed to make him feel like he'd done something wrong.

Evidently, he wasn't the only one that thought so.

“Of course I will,” Izou said, the indignation winning over the annoyance. “I’m just practicing my skills.” 

His hand instinctively brushed against his side, where Ace knew he preferred to hide his spoils.

Realistically, these were dangerous skills to practice in public, knowing that the citizens of Divinity’s Reach regarded only necromancers with more suspicion than those pursuing the unfortunately named thief profession. Izou was incredibly good at what he did, but he was far from a master just yet. None of them were anywhere near mastering their skills, no matter how confident they all tended to be, but Izou was the only one walking a very fine line between finishing his training and being thrown into jail.

Izou looked indignant for a moment longer, before he sat down with a sigh. Such visible defeat was rare for him, and a quick glance around the table confirmed that the others were just as surprised, even if they weren't really showing it. 

“Captain Spandam said I lack stealth and finesse.”

His tone conveyed plenty about how those words were said, and it was enough to make Marco finally look away from Ace and turn to Izou.

“He’s a dick,” Marco said with a certain finality to his words, “and he’s shit at teaching anything.”

“Our captain had us train the basics of stealth with him the other day,” Thatch added in explanation, but Ace was only half listening, focusing on Izou’s ale instead. “Not sure what good that’ll do us, since we all sound like tin cans falling down some stairs in all that armor they’ve probably had since three wars ago.”

Ace snorted at that, but didn’t lose focus until a small hurricane rose out of Izou’s tankard and drew a smile from him. A sense of relief coursed through him at the sight, happy that he could still lighten Izou's mood with little displays of magic, pointedly ignoring the thoughts about the invitation in his pocket. This moment was for Izou, and Ace refused to let his own mind turn the moment sour, focusing instead on keeping the little hurricane going while Thatch still complained about the armor.

Ace had heard the rants and complaints about the state of their armor and their weapons countless times from Marco, and he’d adapted the frustration as his own (nearly so, really). But still they both knew too many recruits left within their first year, so the Seraph and the royal treasury weren’t in the habit of investing into armor that fit unless there was a war looming over them. Any more than usual, at any rate, so Marco did his best to let it go most of the time. 

“Besides,” Jozu chimed in again, snapping Ace out of his focus, “not like you need the training from him since the Whispers are going to train you better when you finally accept their invitation.”

“What,” Ace said, his little hurricane disappearing when he broke the train of thought and looked up at Izou, just like Vista, Marco and Thatch were. 

Thatch didn’t seem surprised, but his expression was unreadable and that in itself was a source of worry for Ace. He didn't have the habit of staying silent.

“The Order of fucking Whispers wants you to join and you haven’t told us?” Vista voiced what Ace was thinking. Marco looked like he was wondering the same thing.

“That’s amazing,” Marco added nonetheless, and Ace had to look at him, take in that proud smile and hope that he’d react the same in due time when the Priory came up. But he wasn't thinking about that. “Why haven’t you accepted yet?”

Izou didn’t look like he wanted to answer, looking between them for a moment before he finally shrugged and looked down into his ale. Ace didn’t miss the brief flicker of a gaze towards Thatch, but it wasn’t his place to say anything about that.

“I don’t know,” he answered, sounding like he did know, but wasn’t about to share.

“What about the rest of you?” Izou asked after a beat of silence, looking back up at them once the subject was changed, however tentatively they'd allowed it.

“Vigil said their doors are open to every soldier in the garrison,” Marco said with a shrug. “Can’t say I’m really interested in joining them.”

He'd spoken about that before, unsure and somewhat uninterested about his own plans for the future. Marco didn't have a specific dream, and Ace still struggled to understand. 

“Me neither,” Thatch said, effectively drawing Ace's attention, making him realize he was getting lost in thought far too much for the others not to notice. “I want to stay with the Seraph, maybe get stationed somewhere more exciting than Shaemoor village with its seven collective centaur to fight. They don’t even do anything, they just trample some cabbages and annoy the fuck out of us and the farmers.” 

“I’m going,” Jozu chimed in with a shrug, offering no other explanation as per usual, but turning his attention towards Vista instead. He didn't even pose a question, just inclined his head to signal that it was Vista's turn to speak about his plans. 

“Don’t know yet,” Vista said, understanding Jozu without issue. “They didn’t give a deadline so I’m considering my options for now.”

“What about you?” Jozu actually asked then, nodding in Ace’s direction.

“It’d be the Durmand Priory for me,” Ace said with a shrug because he knew they all knew his answer to this question and he couldn't tell why Jozu had to ask. Ace barely spared it a thought, unable to look away from Marco once their eyes met and briefly getting lost in the blue he was gazing into. 

He was sure his eyes said more than he wanted to at the moment, with the letter from the Priory burning a hole in his chest, just begging to be spoken about. But this wasn't the time or the place to bring it up, not in front of all of them, not when he hadn't made a decision yet, all the while feeling like that decision had been made years ago.

“Don’t they ask that you live in their basement for a decade or something?” Thatch asked, sounding genuinely curious despite the pisspoor way he asked his question. As per usual.

“It’s not a basement,” Ace replied with a roll of his eyes, breaking eye contact and pretending not to see the curiosity Marco was observing him with. 

“It’s the biggest and most extensive library on the continent, covering the history of the known world and pretty much everything there is to know about any of our professions,” Ace explained, just like he had every other time the Priory came up in any sort of conversation. Most recently when one of the scholars had an audience with the queen and the whole guard was called to the palace. 

But this was easy; talking about the Priory and how much knowledge they had and all the time in the world to study it, because they all knew how highly he thought of their organization. He could tell they tended to tune him out once he started his usual poetics about all the books and scrolls and that they had at least one of the legendary named weapons in their vault.

“You’re thinking about their library again, aren’t you?” Marco asked with a little grin, the warmth of his hand on Ace’s thigh bringing him back to the present. The warmth of his gaze was seeping right into Ace's bones, shaking him to the core as if he'd never been looked at like that before.

Ace narrowed his eyes at Marco, pointedly ignoring the snorts from the other assholes at the table because this was familiar and it was easy to handle.

“That’s none of your business,” Ace said, poking at Marco’s arm and allowing a bit of thunder to course through his finger, making Marco jolt in his seat. 

It wasn’t enough to hurt, never was, but Marco was nevertheless surprised every time Ace used his magic so casually and with increasing control each time it happened. The surprise never lasted long, replaced by a heat in Marco’s gaze and the blue of his eyes almost fully swallowed by the black of his pupils. That was quite the sight, almost enough to make Ace want to leave immediately and to ask that Marco follow him home.

“You wouldn’t last a week without seeing us,” Izou said with a snort, breaking the moment between them. 

The way he said it was casual enough, betraying nothing but amusement in true Izou fashion, but with the way his eyes darted between Ace and Marco, Ace could hear the implication that Izou didn’t really think that was actually true. 

It only stung because Ace didn't think any of them noticed he'd leave everything behind to pursue the knowledge the Priory had to offer.

* * *

“Walk home with me,” Ace said, leaning a little against Marco’s chest, just enough for some warmth to pass between them in the freezing night. 

Marco's hand brushed against Ace's in the cold night air, out of sight, a tiny touch of warmth that almost made Ace sigh even if they'd only left the fires that warmed up the tavern. He wasn't normally cold, not even in the middle of winter, and yet he craved all of Marco's warmth at the moment. 

Thatch was already walking away with his arm around Izou's shoulders, helping him stay upright and making sure he didn't slip on the ice. Vista was close behind, undoubtedly making sure the two in front of him didn't drag each other down like they tended to. Only Jozu stayed behind long enough to probably hear Ace's words, offering only a wave goodbye without even asking if Marco was coming back with them.

They all knew Marco would go with Ace no matter what, and Ace had just enough to drink to numb the sting of that particular thought.

Ace watched his friends walk away into the night until they were out of sight, knowing Marco was doing the same before their fingers laced together and they could finally start the long walk through the city. The silence between them carried a sense of calm, allowing Ace to take in the sight of the snowflakes floating down around them, the fresh snow crunching underfoot where it gathered in the hours since most of the city went to sleep. 

It felt like a precious moment, and a sobering one, with the silence and the warmth of Marco's hand while the cold nipped at the tip of Ace's nose.

"Do you think Izou will accept the invite from the Whispers soon?" Marco asked, voice hushed in the calm of the city. 

"I hope he does," Ace said without looking away from the snow. "He knows how much he could learn from them, but I don't think he's ready to accept it yet."

Marco hummed in thought, his fingers squeezing Ace's just a little, but he said nothing and Ace just let it be.

"Would you really be ready to join the Priory and let them lock you up for ten years for your studies?" he asked, could be minutes or hours later, voice barely a whisper muffled by the snow and the weight of having to ask that question.

Ace huffed out a laugh, gaze still firmly ahead and locked on the snowflakes that were steadily making their way down, mesmerizing in their movements. He was sure that was the ale thinking for him, but he didn't mind.

"I don't think they actually lock the doors once you go inside the Sanctum," Ace said, his breath fogging in front of him. "It seems like a small price to pay to me. I don't think I'll notice the time passing by anyway with all the books they have."

"Have you considered joining the Whispers or the Vigil instead?" Marco asked and Ace finally turned to look at him. 

How could he not when his voice sounded like that, small and on the verge of cracking, so unlike the Marco he knew.

"They don't have enough knowledge of magic, or enough interest in it to make me want to join," Ace said, drawing Marco's gaze. 

"Have you ever considered the Priory?" Ace asked while Marco searched his face for...something. He couldn't tell what, but he could tell he didn't like it until he laughed at Ace's question.

"I'm not a scholar, you know that," Marco said simply, with the casual confidence of someone who was born to be a soldier. "Being locked up in a library would drive me mad."

"I'm telling you they don't actually lock you up," Ace said with a laugh, tugging a little on Marco's hand just to pull him close enough to rest against his shoulder. "At least I don't think."

"I'm sure they'll at least mention it when they invite you to join," Marco said and the smile was still there, but it looked brittle all the same, making the invitation in Ace's coat burn with the guilt.

Ace only nodded at that, smiling a brittle smile of his own before he hurried ahead and pulled at Marco to follow.

"Come on, we have the house to ourselves and we should take advantage of that while we can," Ace said without looking back, the words sounding all wrong to him as soon as they were out because he didn't mean them like they sounded.

He hasn't decided yet, he really hasn't, he didn't want it to sound so final, and yet. He hasn't decided yet, he repeated it to himself like a mantra, refusing to look at Marco.

"You're right," Marco said behind him and Ace couldn't recognize what it sounded like, refused to even try because he hasn't decided yet and it didn't matter.

**Author's Note:**

> The Order of Whispers is a spy organization specializing in stealth, the Vigil are soldiers that fight things head on, and the Durmand Priory are scholars dedicated to studying everything in existence so it can be used for the preservation of life. 
> 
> The boys are all at the start of their training here so the below descriptions mostly show what they will become once they're fully trained:
> 
> Ace is an elementalist (scholar class, has control over the 4 elements through several types of magic)  
> Marco and Jozu are warriors (soldier class, has extensive knowledge of weaponry and basic rune magic for protection and healing)  
> Izou is a thief (adventurer class, specializes in stealth and martial arts as well as a specific set of weapons)  
> Thatch is a guardian (soldier class, specializes in protection, shielding and healing allies)  
> Vista is an engineer (adventurer class, specializes in building weaponry, suits and golems for battle and non battle purposes)


End file.
